He was not merelya chip off the old block, but the old block itself.

-Burke, Edmund
  Commenting on William Pitt theYounger's maiden speech in the House of Commons, 26 Feb.

To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock, Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock, From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!

-Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck)
   Trio, The Mikado, act1.

She taught me what her uncle once taught her: How easily the biggest coal block split If you got the grain and hammer angled right. The sound of that relaxed alluring blow, Its co-opted and obliterated echo, Taught me to hit, taught me to loosen, Taught me between the hammer and the block To face the music. Teach me now to listen, To strike it rich behind the linear black.

-Heaney, SeamusJustin
  The Haw Lantern,'Clearances: In Memoriam M.K.H., 1911^1984'.